Science & Technology

Sometimes nature isn't so harsh and here are two stories as example: BBC News reports that two grandmother macaques have been observed nursing and caring for their grandchildren, the first time such caring behavior has been unambiguously documented; on a much smaller scale, LiveScience tells us that new research shows that ants will save nestmates from danger:

Business & Politics

Via Green Inc

Here's a promising project: Brazilian and Italian entrepreneurs are investing $114 million in a plan to convert bagasse, a waste product from sugar cane, into pellets that can be burned as fuel at your average, run-of-the-mill coal plant. By next year, utilities around the world will likely be getting thousands of megawatts of power from sugar cane waste.

Cars & Transportation

Image credit: Good

Is algae the fuel of the gods? Well, on paper, it very well could be. Industry evangelists predict a bright future in which algae farms produce the equivalent of the entire amount of petroleum the United States' currently uses in a year. Even better: Algae could potentially do this using just one percent of the country's land mass and might actually remove carbon from the atmosphere in the process.

Sounds great, but there are some problems.

Business & Politics

Apologies for the Bad Wordplay
UK Transport Secretary Andrew Adonis (nice alliteration) has announced that his government would be investing £30 million in charging stations for electric cars. The initiative is called "Plugged-In Places" and the stations will be located on streets, in car parks and in commercial, retail and leisure facilities in 3 to 6 cities/regions of the UK. Mr. Adonis said: "Our aim is for electric and low carbon cars to be an everyday feature of life on UK's roads in less than five years. There is still a lot of work to be done, however Plugged-In Places is one very significant step putting us firmly on the path to a low carbon future."

Business & Politics

Image credit: Hopenhagen

Editor's Note: This post is written by Andrew Winston, a globally recognized expert on how businesses can profit from thinking green and the co-author of the best-seller Green to Gold.

Why Going Green—and the Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen—Matter Now More than Ever

For the past few years, the business world has been swept up in a green wave—a rising tide of interest and concern about environmental issues. The Great Recession has not stopped the pressure pushing this wave. Environmental crises such as climate change and water shortages continue to evolve. Mega-forces such as technology-driven transparency and the rise of the consumer in India and China—which will force the price of oil and other resources up over time—continue to advance.

Science & Technology

Photos via AlestRukov

This absolutely gorgeous AlestRukov wooden mouse is usually the type of gadget we love to see, but unfortunately we're on the fence about just how eco-friendly it is. All the wood components are from a single piece of wood, it has a 5-year warranty which is impressive, and the electronic components are as minimized as possible to keep the level of e-waste down. But there's a problem...

Cars & Transportation

Photo: Wikipedia, CC

We Must Look at Complete Life-Cycles
A new study published in Environmental Research Letters pours some cold water on those who think that compressed air cars are the future. The technology does sound very good on paper: Simpler than fuel cell vehicles and electric cars and there are no tailpipe emissions. But if you dig a bit deeper than this and look at the whole picture, the picture becomes less rosy...

Design & Architecture

Photography by Peter Bennetts

We have long been fans of the work of Australian architect Andrew Maynard,(doing nine posts!) who does smart, green work with a sense of humour. The always gorgeous Sanctuary Magazine covers his latest, a renovation in Melbourne, Australia, and interviews him about his philosophy of sustainable design. He quotes as well as he designs; some of the better ones: